W. House Dismisses Unilateral Debt Fix

The White House said Tuesday that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ''not available'' to President Barack Obama to avoid the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

``There are no easy ways out here. There are no tricks, there is no citing of the Constitution that suddenly allow us to borrow,'' White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. ``It's not available.''

(Reporting by Laura MacInnis and Alister Bull; Editing by Will Dunham)